Families of captive troops to hold protest march to N. border

The families of Eldad Regev, Udi Goldwasser and Gilad Shalit, on Friday will participate in a protest convoy marking six months that the three soldiers have been in captivity in Lebanon and Gaza. The convoy will leave Jerusalem and travel to the northern border with Lebanon, where the protestors will hold an assembly.

The protest is being organized by an umbrella organization for captive soldiers and will be called "Journey for freedom."

The convoy will depart from Paris square in Jerusalem and will pass the defense department headquarters in Tel Aviv and the houses of the kidnapped soldiers, before coming to an end at the border with Lebanon.

The assembly will feature a prayer for the soldiers to be conducted by Israel Lau, former chief rabbi of Israel and will also feature a ceremony by members of Regev and Goldwassers' reserve units who will travel to the spot next to the security fence where the two were captured in July.

Organizers encourage the public to take part in the demonstration, and to demand that the government return the captive soldiers Israel.

"We didn?t think we'd get to this day," said Miki Liebovitz from the organization for captive soldiers. "The failures and neglect of the government in dealing with the captives put a big question mark on their obligation and responsibility to return soldiers taken captive while on missions in defense of the state."

Miki Goldwasser, mother of captive soldier Ehud Goldwasser, has initiated talks with writers from Arab news channels in order to bring her message to the mothers of Lebanese imprisoned in Israel, and to encourage cooperation between Israeli and Lebanese mothers to bring home the captives held on both sides.

Goldwasser is scheduled to appear this weekend on Qatar's 'Al-Jazeera' television channel, the Arab world's largest news outlet, as well as on the Lebanese television channel LBC to further her initiative.